text: it can show a debasement of someone or something or be considered as an expression of strong feeling towards something in its older more literal sense profanity refers to a lack of respect for things that are held to be sacred which implies anything inspiring deserving of reverence as well as behaviour showing similar disrespect or causing religious offense the term profane originates from classical latin profanus literally before outside the temple it carried the meaning of either desecrating what is holy or with a secular purpose as early as the 1450s profanity represented secular indifference to religion or religious figures while blasphemy was a more offensive attack on religion and religious figures considered sinful and a direct violation of the ten commandments moreover many bible verses speak against swearing profanities in the original meaning of blasphemous profanity are part of the ancient tradition of the comic cults which laughed and scoffed at the deity or deities an example of this would be lucian s dialogues of the gods satire in english swear words and curse words tend to have germanic rather than latin etymology shit has a germanic root as likely does fuck the more technical alternatives are often